Tick Bite Reaction--Swollen Eye

[Peaches Lee]

My rooster had a small tick on his top eyelid the other day, and before I could get my handy tick pickers it either dropped off or got taken off by a hen or he scratched it off. Now he has swelling of the eyelid and a lot of clear fluid in his eye. Should I leave it alone or is there something I can do?

 

[Michael Apple]

You could clear the eye with some eye drops. I like to keep a tube of Terramycin eye ointment on hand. It prevents infection. The swelling will go down if it doesn't get irritated and the chicken doesn't scratch at it. Terramycin eye ointment can be found at most feed stores, whereas others like Neo-Poly-Bac need a prescription from a vet that will gouge you with clinic fee.

 

[Peaches Lee]

OK, thank you very much. I don't think he's bothering it, too busy looking for treats to offer his girls LOL!

 

[Peaches Lee]

Thought I would update this with my experience with this tick bite reaction.

The swelling had increased to the point where his eye was completely shut. The eye itself still looked okay and there was very minimal yellow discharge. At that point I became concerned and called my equine vet who is also a friend and, not being an avian vet, did the best he could. He believed it was an infectious reaction to the tick bite.

He prescribed 100mg of Doxycycline once daily for a 6lb bird. I used a 6 cc syringe and mixed a capsule with some applesauce which worked out perfectly. This is only his second day and I believe the swelling, which began to involve his other eye, has reached it's peak. At least that is what I'm hoping.

You can very clearly see the site where the tick was as it is red and the skin is a bit rough there. I'm very glad that I seen the tick before this happened as I would have no idea how to treat it. Anyway, I hope maybe in the future this could help someone looking through the BYC archives for information regarding the health of their chickens--it is such a wonderful resource that I believe all chicken guardians are so fortunate to have.

 

[wing]

I'm dealing with the same thing right now. This morning I let my ladies out and noticed one of my chickens eyelids (upper and lower) was swelled all around. The eye itself looks good, no discharge or others symptoms. With further inspection, I noticed a small tick on her upper eye lid. I was able to pull it out. I talked to one of the vet techs at our local vet office, and she recommended Terramycin with warm compresses. I found that we cannot get it. Apparently it isn't available. (?) in place of it I got Vetericyn from Tractor Supply. I hope this works. Best of luck to you as we'll. keep us posted

 

[wing]

On another note, I have always bedded my coop down with Diatomaceous Earth before I spread my shavings. I believe this to be an effective precaution to creepy crawlies in the coop. I'm pretty sure she picked up the tick outside, but just wanted to share that I case some people don't know about it.

 

[Biologrady]

Hi, just adding to this thread, and wondering if any of the initial responders had updates about how the birds did after tick bites. I removed two tiny ticks from my Jersey Giant's eyelid two days ago. The swelling isn't worse, and might be slightly better on the affected side but she looks a little puffy on the opposite side now too. I put some topical Benadryl on once, but that's all. She is no longer scratching at her face, and she is eating and drinking well, so for now I'm leaving her be. Did it take a long time to return to normal?